Alexandra Riley travels the world chasing a tennis dream

Sunday night, after another grueling journey to another off-the-radar tournament in another remote locale, Alexandra Riley will return to her hotel room and end Father's Day the way she ends most other days, by texting "Good Night!" to her father.

The nightly ritual helps ease both her father's concerns and the isolation the Philadelphia-born pro feels as, all alone, she chases her tennis dream across the globe.

For seven years now, since she was 17, "Xan" Riley has been a solo tennis nomad. No coach accompanies her. No manager or agent. No parent. Crisscrossing an increasingly dangerous world for far-flung, minor-league events, she's learned to schedule and manage itineraries, apply for visas, figure out how to get from place to place.

Her father, local tennis instructor Eric Riley, has been her mentor and coach, her chief financial backer, her emotional connection to everything she left behind. He'd like nothing better than to join her, but business won't allow it.

So on this latest Father's Day apart, he'll console himself with texts and the knowledge that while his daughter has sacrificed a formal education and a personal life to seek a spot on the WTA tour, she's tough enough, committed enough, and, at 24, still young enough to achieve it.

"Because of tennis I got to spend more time with my daughter than most fathers," he said. "I'd love to have her here. But in tennis, overseas is where the opportunities are.

"She's sacrificed a lot socially. No boyfriends. No relationships. And it's not always a friendly environment on tour. It's single-elimination each week, so you're like a gunslinger in the Wild West. You've got to take on all comers. She's had to handle everything herself."

Riley's game has been improving. Her ranking has risen more than 200 spots in the last year. She climbed as high as 691 in March, still far from the top 200 who compete in WTA events.

So she moves on - and on.

In the last two months, she played in Senegal, Uzbekistan, Egypt, France, Brazil, and Mexico. Wherever she goes, the purses are small and the journeys long.

Recently, for example, after a brief Philadelphia visit to her parents - her father and mother, Center City lawyer Elise Panasci, aren't married - she drove to New York for a Moscow flight. She endured a nine-hour layover in Russia before a flight to Tashkent. Finally, she made the five-hour journey from the Uzbeki capital to the remote $25,000 tournament site by car.

Riley typically travels for six to eight weeks, then spends a week in Philadelphia. Wherever she is, she practices and works out religiously.

And the loneliness is as difficult as the quest.

She has made few friends on a tour in which Americans are rare. She has learned to enjoy exotic foods but, for safety's sake, dines near her hotels. She doesn't party, preferring to relax by reading, surfing the web, watching videos, or texting.

Though her parents can view some matches online, their primary means of communicating is via text. Eric Riley said he and his daughter exchange 25 to 30 messages daily.

"It's stuff like, 'I'm OK, Dad.' 'I'm going to practice.' 'I play soon,' " he said. "It helps. You always worry about your kids. You never want them in harm's way. Of course I want her here. But I give her a lot of credit because she's had the courage to do this."

It's been her life since 2008, when, having achieved a world ranking through various U.S. events, Riley asked whether she could try the international circuit.

Her father, who discovered tennis as a boy growing up in Malvern when he saw Arthur Ashe at the Spectrum, said he never pushed her. But she so often accompanied him to lessons that she mastered the game through osmosis.

"Xan rode horses, was a tremendous ice skater, and played the violin. But she gravitated toward tennis," he said. "She became real good real fast. I wasn't thrilled. I know the road."

At 14, according to her father, no area adults could beat her. Ranked No. 1 in the USTA Middle States region, Riley sought national challenges.

By then, having already convinced her parents she'd be better off home-schooled than continuing at Shipley School, Riley was so focused on her dream that she rejected several college tennis scholarships.

"My mom really wanted me to go to college," she said during a recent telephone interview from Egypt. "But it was my decision, and I just really wanted to do this. Not anything else.

"I didn't want to be on a team. I didn't want to be in the classroom. It's not for me. There are people who like school. I like school, but I just have blinders on. If I want something, I go after it."

The solo globe-trotting was her parents' major worry. Early on, her father, a onetime Penn tennis captain who has coached such stars as Pam Shriver and Lisa Raymond, accompanied her to a Nigerian event.

"After that," he said, "we explained that if she did go on tour, we wouldn't be able to afford sending a coach with her. She said, 'Fine,' and she's learned to travel well."

Her worst experience, she said, was having money stolen from a hotel room.

"I've been really fortunate," she said. "Everything has gone smoothly. And it's been an education. Nothing you can read teaches you how to be in some of the situations you find yourself in."

Money is a constant focus. The events' purses range from $10,000 to $100,000. In the richest of them, the winner earns only $10,000.

Riley has earned $2,567 this year and $36,788 for her career, according to the WTA website. She has yet to win a professional tournament.

"This isn't cheap," she said. "The prize money I get is not even substantial. Maybe it pays for the hotel in one city. But it's a stepping-stone to the big tour. This is where you build ranking points. It's not where you make a living."

Her expenses are offset by tennis earnings, money from lessons she gives while at home, and the rewards frequent flights and hotel stays bring. The rest comes from her father and his twin brother, Mark.

"She's able to help herself along," said Eric Riley, "and I give her support as needed. She's got the fire to play, and if she's going to make that kind of commitment, I've got to be behind her."

She refuses to limit her dream, contending her only immediate goal is "to get better every day."

"It's a grind for sure," she said. "Everyone is fighting like crazy. Everyone wants to be great and get to the top. You've got to keep fighting."

And at 24, in her proud father's eyes at least, there's still time to fight.

"I'd like her to decide where she wants to be at the end of each year," he said. "But she says she's not going to put pressure on herself. The average age of women in the top 100 now is 28. It takes a longer time to break in. Very few teenagers are making it. Xan is a late bloomer who's getting stronger physically. She'll come into her own when she's 28 or older. It takes time. Look at Serena Williams. She's playing her best tennis, and she's 33."

Riley understands she still has miles to go before she sleeps, before she gets to give her dad a Father's Day "Good Night!" in person. Realizing what she's missing at home is what the lonely life has taught her best.

"It's much better when you have someone," she said, "instead of being alone."